#catherine-shoard

We're very excited about the second Inntravel Short Film Awards, and as we approach the deadline for submissions (Monday 16 June - just five days away, click here if you want to know more) we thought we'd give you the full low-down on the awards and let you know how you can get your ticket!

The Short Film Awards is one of the few competitive elements of the Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival programme, we love it because we all believe that short films are a unique and very necessary form of the cinema art, but opportunities to see them are limited.

At Berwick, we want to give artists and filmmakers a platform to shine through this genre, but also give our audience an opportunity to see some fantastic shorts.

Sponsors of the award Inntravel were so impressed with the quality and depth of the submissions in 2013, that they've returned for a second year. Steve Jack of Inntravel said, "It was a real honour to be asked to present our award to Gunhild Enger from Norway last year, her film Premature having been selected as Best Short Film by the Prize Jury. Her awkward family drama, confined to the claustrophobic setting of a car, was a worthy winner, and a popular one among the audience."

So 2014 sees the Inntravel awards presented by supermodel, actor and broadcaster Eunice Olumide, on the jury we welcome Catherine Shoard (Head of Film at the Guardian) and Marcus Coates (Festival co-founder and visual artist) all coming together, with our (yet to be decided) shortlist of films and moving image work, the filmmakers and artists themselves and members of the public, for an awards evening on Saturday 20 September 2014.

"I can barely wait to be back in Berwick," Steve Jack told us, "the theme this year of Border Crossing is perfect for us; as a holiday provider we encourage our holidaymakers to try something different, to journey through unique and wonderful landscapes and hopefully find a hidden gem. Much like our cinematic journey from fiction and documentary to live action and animation to an eventual winner. The awards are a brilliant illustration of the power and punch this shorter format can deliver."

Catherine Shoard will sit on the jury of the second Inntravel Short Film Awards at Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival this year, we catch up with her to find out what she'll be looking for in the entries.

BF: Can you describe your early relationship with film, were you always destined for a career in film journalism or did your interest evolve over time?

CS: I didn't see a lot of films growing up, but was very heavily influenced by those I did see. I remember the excitement when Back to the Future II hit the local Blockbuster store, and going round trying to be like Doc Brown - which might not have quite worked, as a 12-year-old girl. Then I got into film journalism as a student, loved it, and then got lucky and got a job in it. BF: What excites you about sitting on the Jury for the Short Film Awards at Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival?

It's a festival I love - it has a great sense of place, and of integrity, and a sense of humour. I'm hoping that the directors who submit their work will be of a similar disposition. BF: Can you tell us as a jury member, what will spark your interest, or make a film stand out for you?

I'm a sucker for funny, but I guess clear-focus, manageable ambition and ingenuity within the genre. It can't just be a calling card; it needs to be a fully-formed work of art in its own right.

BF: Can you tell us about a memorable short film you have seen and what made it so?

‘Pasty Child’, a one-minute movie by Andy Luck, which won the GuardianWitness awards whose jury I also sat on. It was perfect: an intricate world you immediately lost yourself in, great craft and skill artistically, great economy of shots and a terrific black humour shot right through it. It had confidence and style - it zinged at 60 seconds, but it also made you hanker after a full-length version.